Golfers with area ties secure PGA Tour cards

Matt Bettencourt lost Sunday's Web.com Tour's Cox Classic on the third hole of a sudden death playoff, but earned an even bigger prize in regaining his PGA Tour card.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

Matt Bettencourt lost Sunday's Web.com Tour's Cox Classic on the third hole of a sudden death playoff, but earned an even bigger prize in regaining his PGA Tour card.The 38-year-old Duncan resident succumbed to Aussie Bronson La'Cassie after bogeying the 18th on the third try at Champions Run in Omaha, Neb., but the $86,400 payday for the regular-season finale was enough to make a whopping jump from No. 63 to 16th on the money list ($162,877) with the top 25 receiving PGA Tour status.Joining Bettencourt on next season's PGA Tour will be Greenville resident/Clemson product Ben Martin, who finished tied for 40th Sunday to stay at No. 2 with $399,769 ($50,415 shy of first-place Michael Putnam), and USC's Mark Anderson, who took this week off and finished No. 8 with $225,184.Bettencourt held a two-shot advantage for the majority of Sunday's back nine before bogeying the 15th (a hole he'd birdied the previous two rounds) and only making birdie on the very short par-5 17th, which La'Cassie birdied to tie the lead. He had played the previous 30 consecutive holes without a bogey.The solo second concluded a furious charge to end the regular season with Bettencourt tying for second last week in Knoxville and tying for sixth two events prior in Boise. He was a full PGA Tour member from 2009 through last season when his exemption for winning the 2010 Reno-Tahoe Open expired and he failed to finish within the required top 125 on the money list. He played nine PGA events this year with a tie for 24th in Puerto Rico his best outing.Martin entered the week needing to finish no worse than solo fourth while hoping Putnam faltered (he tied for 12th) to have any shot at finishing No. 1 on the money list. Martin, who turns 26 today, was a full-time PGA Tour member in 2011 after earning his way on via a second-place finish at Q-School. He posted one top-10 while earning $340,080 and feels he's much more prepared for his second attempt.“One of the things I've wanted to do is I feel like I've gotten a little bit better every year,” Martin told Golf Channel. “I came out of college straight to the PGA Tour and that was a big adjustment for me, but playing these past two years on the Web.com I've learned a lot. How to travel, how to take time off and how to prepare so I'm looking forward to going back next year.“I think I got burned out my first year on Tour in 2011, so just picking up the little things will help.”Next week's Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne, Ind., starts the inaugural four-event playoff format with each stop featuring a $1 million purse. Week 2's Chiquita Classic is at River Run in Davidson, N.C. The top 75 on the Web.com money list will be joined by Nos. 126-200 on the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings, including Clemson's Jonathan Byrd and D.J. Trahan (Dorman) and Simpsonville's Justin Bolli.McGirt advances in FedEx Cup playoffsBoiling Springs resident/Wofford graduate William McGirt had to endure the helpless feeling of leaving fate out of his own hands after missing Friday's cut by one shot at The Barclays in New Jersey.He entered the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoff-opener at No. 92 in points with only the top 100 advancing to the Deutsche Bank Championship. The 34-year-old hovered around No. 100 the entire weekend before standing at 99th when the tournament ended. Others with in-state ties moving on include Greenville resident Bill Haas (No. 8), Columbia native Dustin Johnson (22) and Clemson's Kyle Stanley (66).

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